Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress her Department has made on the River Thames Scheme; what her planned timetable is for that scheme; and what the (a) current and (b) projected expenditure is for that scheme, in the context of the project’s mid-project review.

Significant progress has been made in preparing for The River Thames Scheme to undergo Statutory Consultation to inform the application of a Development Consent Order (DCO).

The mid-project review, initiated by Project Sponsors: The Environment Agency (EA) and Surrey County Council, is ensuring the scheme design is optimised before finalising the DCO.

In addition, the Sponsors commissioned the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority (NISTA) to independently assess the readiness of the project and sponsoring organisations to deliver the project. The cost of the development work up to this point has been £104 million.

The EA will be bringing forward an updated business case this Summer, which will set out the revised timetable to submit the DCO, an updated cost assessment, and any revised arrangement for delivery of the scheme.

Subject to approval of this business case, the next stage in progressing the project is to secure the DCO.